Hal Prince News

In the last week the stars came out to 54 Below to see engagements featuring Linda Lavin with Billy Stritch, Eden Espinoza and Jason Robert Brown. Among those in the audience were Carol Burnett, Joy Behar, Hal Prince, John Davidson, Penny Fuller and Steve Bakunis.

Tony Award winner Linda Lavin makes nightclub appearances at 54 BELOW (254 W. 54 St. in Manhattan) yesterday, September 17 and September 23 at 3 p.m. with musical director Billy Stritch and a 5-piece combo. Check out photos from the concert below!

Walk-on appearances in Broadway's biggest hits, on-set visits to television's most popular shows, lunch with Angela Lansbury, and the shirts off Hugh Jackman's and Ricky Martin's backs - literally - are among the priceless lots now available for pre-bidding as Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS presents the 26th Annual Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction.

The writing team of a new Broadway-bound musical, inspired by the once shockingly explicit 1928 D.H. Lawrence masterpiece, Lady Chatterley's Lover, is turning to the Internet to fundraise for an industry reading to be held in New York City in late fall. With its notarity abroad and questionable content at the time of its conception, the music and content aims to bring a story to the stage that bridges the gap between so many of our personal and internal battles and unite us in a constant search for spiritual love and the drive that empowers us to find it.

Today we are talking to a terrifically talented stage and screen performer who has appeared in dozens of film, TV and stage projects over the course of his forty-year career, the thoughtful and charming Treat Williams. In this all-encompassing conversation, Williams and I discuss the many stages of his career thus far, from his early roots co-starring alongside the likes of John Travolta and Marilu Henner in GREASE and OVER HERE! on Broadway in the 1970s, to leading the film adaptation of Terrence McNally's THE RITZ to headlining Milos Foreman's stirring film version of HAIR to starring in handful of other iconic films from his heydey at the top of the Hollywood heap - Steven Spielberg's 1941, Sergio Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA and Sidney Lumet's PRINCE OF THE CITY included - and even working with Woody Allen on the caustic HOLLYWOOD ENDING. In addition to sharing candid and observant behind-the-scenes stories from the sets of those landmark properties, Williams also reveals his role in the STAR WARS sequel THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and reflects on his brief time in London with Carrie Fisher, George Lucas and company. Plus, Williams shares his recollections of working with many of his most memorable theatrical collaborators, with some especially intriguing anecdotes surrounding his time spent playing Buddy in the 2001 Roundabout revival of Stephen Sondheim & James Goldman's FOLLIES - with some tales involving the man behind the musical, as well as the ghost of David Belasco - and his insights into his work with David Mamet on OLEANNA, BOBBY GOULD IN HELL, TEXAN and others. As if all of that were not enough - most pertinent of all - Williams gives us the 411 on his season-long arc on USA's hit nighttime drama WHITE COLLAR and imparts his enthusiasm for working with similarly multi-talented many-format star Matt Bomer and the rest of cast and crew while also revealing some details on where his dastardly character is headed in tonight's episode and all the way into 2013 when the show picks up after the hiatus coming up. Also, Williams sheds some light on his spate of upcoming projects. All of that and much, much more!

Walk-on appearances in Broadway's biggest hits, on-set visits to television's most popular shows, lunch with Angela Lansbury, and the shirts off Hugh Jackman's and Ricky Martin's backs - literally - are among the priceless lots now available for pre-bidding as Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS presents the 26th Annual Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction.

Paper Mill Playhouse has just announced the cast for its season opener, A Chorus Line, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical conceived, choreographed and directed by Michael Bennett, with book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch, and lyrics by Edward Kleban.

After more than six years and nearly 2,700 performances, Phantom-The Las Vegas Spectacular ends its historic run at The Venetian today, September 2, 2012. This stunning theatrical spectacle will never be seen again once the final curtain closes in Las Vegas.

Rebecca Spencer, who premiered the role of Madame Giry to critical acclaim in Phantom-The Las Vegas Spectacular, will don the black dress again when she joins the world tour of The Phantom of the Opera this month in Manila and early 2013 in Seoul, South Korea. Spencer portrayed Madame Giry for more than two years in Sin City.

Fresh off its acclaimed run at the Cleveland Play House, One Night with Janis Joplin will take D.C. audiences on a musical journey into the life and inspirations of one of rock 'n' roll's greatest legends. The production is led by Cleveland native Mary Bridget Davies, who performs with Joplin's original band Big Brother and the Holding Company, and also features Sabrina Elayne Carten as the Blues Singer who pays homage to the artists that influenced Joplin's incomparable blues-rock blend. Created, written and directed by Randy Johnson, the production is produced in partnership with Cleveland Play House in association with Todd Gershwin and Daniel Chilewich of Premiere Media, with support from The Estate of Janis Joplin and Jeff Jampol of JAM, Inc. One Night with Janis Joplin runs September 28 - November 4, 2012 in the Kreeger Theater. Get a first look at the show in the photos below!

Fresh off its acclaimed run at the Cleveland Play House, where The Plain Dealer called it "a feel-good, fist pumping, must-see concert," One Night with Janis Joplin will take D.C. audiences on a musical journey into the life and inspirations of one of rock 'n' roll's greatest legends.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Casting news for ChiShakes' 'Sunday,' TATC's '42nd Street' and Paramount's 'Grease,' plus ALW and the eye-popping Marriott season, Chicago's first 'Q,' Super September along Belmont Avenue and much more!

The Diva and the Baritone, stars Metropolitan Opera baritone Theodore Lambrinos and his singing partner and wife, international operatic soprano Hallie Neill. Elliot Finkel, a concert pianist with the chops of a Broadway musical director wrote the arrangements to showcase the couple's amazing vocal talents in a charming mix of Broadway, opera and the best of the Great American songbook.

John Arthur Pinckard, the Tony Award-Winning Producer of Clybourne Park,has joined with The New Colony, 2011 Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theater Award-recipient, to announce the acceptance of last summer's critically-acclaimed 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche, written by Andrew Hobgood and Evan Linder and directed by Sarah Gitenstein, into The New York International Fringe Festival. Chicago audiences will be able to see the re-staging of last summer's hit production at Center on Halsted opening on Monday, July 30th with a limited run from August 2nd - August 5th before it heads to FringeNYC.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announces casting for the 2012 Fall Season. The Tony Award® and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine will be staged by CST Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin, September 26-November 4, 2012 in CST's Courtyard Theater. The season continues with The School for Lies by David Ives, adapted from Moliere's The Misanthrope and staged by CST Artistic Director Barbara Gaines, December 4, 2012-January 20, 2013 in CST's Courtyard Theater.

Marking the 25th anniversary of the John Waters' original film, Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly brings together an all-star cast of Broadway, film and TV stars for the full symphonic production of the Broadway musical, Hairspray. Hairspray: In Concert! will premiere with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Jan. 11-13, 2013, and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Jan. 24-27, 2013.

Max von Essen is scheduled to again step into the role of 'Che' for six performances, August 6-11, in the new Broadway production of EVITA while Ricky Martin is on vacation.